Atheism doesn’t kill people, Fanaticism kills people

January 12, 2010

We humans do deserve harsh judgment. Some religion can be used for
evil, while nonbelievers can be evil too. Still, religion cannot show
that god exists by complaining that nonbelievers tend to be more evil.
Prisons are full of religious people.

No evidence of ordinary criminality rampant among nonbelievers
can be found. In a desperation move, atheism gets blamed for modern
warfare. You've heard the familiar tune -- Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were
atheists, they all were responsible for terrible mass murder;
therefore, atheism is responsible for terrible mass murder.

Let's see -- religion's defenders ignore 8,000 years of
religious mayhem by many millions of believers, in order to pick out
three recent non-Christians? It is just hypocrisy
to think that such an argument over evil won't work both ways. Maybe
fanaticism is just fanaticism and that's what gets people killed. No
one excuses those recent psychopaths for their evil deeds, but atheism doesn't deserve to get blamed.

We need a moment of logical clarity here. Six points:

First, pointing to Hitler, Stalin, or Mao as consequences of nonbelief cannot help demonstrate the existence of God. If anything, such tragedy suffices as evidence against the existence of the Christian God (see the problem of evil).

Second, Hitler was religious, hated atheism, and most Nazis were Christians [see Steigmann-Gall, The
Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945
,
2003], while atheist Stalin and atheist Mao eradicated millions for
totalitarian power, not for atheism. If Stalin and Mao had been
religious, they would have murdered all the same (consider the
Catholicism of France's Napolean or Italy's Mussolini).

Third, some perspective over centuries is needed. For example,
the deaths from African colonial wars and slave trade, the genocide of
American Indians, and the Napoleanic Wars (all conducted by millions of
Christians) together approximate the 20th century numbers attributed to
two atheists.

Fourth, communism is lumped together with atheism, as if atheism is
responsible for communism. Wrong again. Capitalism is responsible for
communism, especially that sort of predatory capitalism endorsed by
most 19th century Christians which enslaved men, women, and children in
lethal factories and sent them to an early grave. Fanatical communism was an overreaction to unrestrained capitalism, and humanistic Christians reformed capitalism
in the early 20th century. That titanic political struggle was between
religious people dealing with modern industrial wealth, and not about
atheism (the number of 19th century atheists wouldn't have filled an
athletic stadium).

Fifth, the sheer numbers of 20th century dead are appallingly large,
but that mostly reflects more murderous weaponry and bigger populations
to kill. Not even secularization could be associated with such killing.
Democratically secular countries are the least likely to engage in wars
or destroy its own populations [see Rummell,
Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900
, 1998].

Sixth, religion cannot complain that science is responsible for a
modern world more immoral or warlike. Pre-modern eras were pretty
brutal by any standard. Those in supreme power have always used science
and technology for murderous ends. Christian kings used the finest
weaponry of their times to kill as many as they could, and a Christian
President was the first to drop nuclear weapons on civilian
populations. Political struggles tend to overpower religion or even
co-opt religion’s involvement (see the American Confederacy, Northern
Ireland, or the Middle East).

Religion's defenders are better off pointing to the way that many
religions, including Christianity, have been moderating into more
humanistic and democratic forms. Neither atheism nor religion, by
themselves, kill people. Fanaticism, the drive to absolute power, kills
people. While religions historically are proven facilitators of
fanatical intensity (far more than atheism ever possibly could), there
is hope for the future. Blessed are the peacemakers, who hold a God to
a higher moral standard, and atheists are glad to remind everyone that
moral standards come first.

Comments:

Even if we grant everything the theists say about Hitler, Stalin and Mao, can’t we say, “OK, those atheists from 60 years ago were bad guys. Let’s look at atheism in the world today. Which countries have the highest degree of atheism, and which have the highest standard of living (based on parameters such as human happiness, child mortality, longevity, etc.)? Hey! They’re the same countries!”

I know Hitler wasn’t an atheist, and none of those despots acted out of lack of belief in a god. But the bigger point is, who cares? What has atheism done for the world lately? Lots!

#2 jean nutson (Guest) on Wednesday January 13, 2010 at 7:40am

There’s this thing i’ve observed,and that is the inexplicable and often unconscious fear theists or religious people tend to have for atheists,especially in less educated or less civilized societies,it’s therefore not surprising the haste with which atheists are linked to crimes and wrongdoings although history clearly tells the opposite story, what i find very annoying however is their inability to provide substantiated proofs to such baseless accusations.If you ask me what i regard to be man’s greatest freedom,my answer is ATHEISM!.

#4 Max (Guest) on Wednesday January 13, 2010 at 12:20pm

The familiar tune about Stalin and Mao is sung in response to the other familiar tune about the Crusades and the Inquisition. And it works, because you say that “Neither atheism NOR religion, by themselves, kill people.”

#5 Max (Guest) on Wednesday January 13, 2010 at 12:33pm

“Capitalism is responsible for communism, especially that sort of predatory capitalism endorsed by most 19th century Christians which enslaved men, women, and children in lethal factories and sent them to an early grave.”

Was that in Russia or in China?

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John Shook is Director of Education and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry–Transnational in
Amherst, N.Y., and Research Associate in Philosophy at the
University at Buffalo, since 2006. He has
authored and edited more than a dozen books, is a co-editor of three
philosophy journals, and travels for lectures and debates across the United
States and around the world.